Born December 17, 2010 at 2:49pm, Ryleigh was 8lbs, 2oz and 21 inches.
Dr. Knapp stripped my membranes on Monday during my office visit, so I had off-and-on contractions all week, but labor did not set-in on its own, so I went-in to St. Mary's hospital early on Thursday, Dec 16. We left the house at 10am because there was a snow storm starting, and I didn't want to miss my scheduled induction at 3pm. We waited in the lobby for several hours, just passing time and waiting for the fun to begin :).
At 3pm, LDR gave me a bed, but they were SWAMPED with 20 deliveries the day before (a hospital record), so we were a little late getting started...
I spent the evening trying to sleep while the PG tape (Cervidil) worked its magic! I dilated from 2cm to 3cm and effaced from 50% to 70% overnight, experiencing contractions that made me very uncomfortable. They finally let me up to walk around at 5:30am on Friday, Dec 17th. And that was the best walk I've ever taken!
At 6am on Dec 17th, Dr. Knapp started the Pitocin drip. WOW! I thought I knew what contractions were!!! I was asking about an epidural by 7:30am, but the nurses encouraged me to wait because it could be a long day and they wanted the pain to be worse than the epidural procedure itself, so I waited... Until 8:30am... And then I BEGGED for the pain relief. It came around 9:00, and I was still able to feel the contractions, but the pain was relieved significantly.
At 10am, Dr. Knapp checked me and I was 5cm dilated. We were thinking dinner time for delivery... And then at 11:30am, Dr. Knapp came back in and asked me how I was feeling. I told her about the pressure, and she checked me again. Almost 9cm... At noon, I was complete and started pushing.
That's when things got tricky... I pushed until 2:30pm before Dr. Knapp came-in, and at that point, I was exhausted. I was having trouble because Ryleigh's shoulder was stuck. After a few really violent pushes and an elbow-assist from a nurse, Ryleigh made her appearance at 2:49pm. She was darn-near perfect with APGAR scores of 8 and 9 :). Barry cut her cord and we spent the next hour or so spending time as a new family.
After visits from family and friends, we were able to go home on Sunday mid-day. We have been spending time together bonding as a new family!
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